Why Ottawa is Canada’s Ripest City For Investment

May 26, 2018 1 Comment 1,513 Views

With a booming tech industry, increasing population density, low unemployment rates and major neighbourhood and infrastructure rejuvenation projects underway, Ottawa is Canada’s ripest city for investment.

The city’s landscape is going through a metamorphosis with new high-rise condo developments, one of the country’s strongest startup and tech industries and a new 2.1 billion dollar LRT transit system. Because of this, investors are starting to gravitate towards the capital city.

The influx of young people and newcomers to the Ottawa area is the main reason for the new 13-stop LRT line which will open its first extension in November of this year. The LRT is also spurring new office development and higher property values around stations.

Image Source: Ottawacitizen.com

Condo sales were up 20 per cent in 2017 and this year has also seen a consistent rise as well – one of Ottawa’s most sought-after projects is 1451 Wellington by Mizrahi Developments. Located at the junction of two of the city’s trendiest neighbourhoods, Wellington West and Westboro, 1451 Wellington is a boutique condominium of just 93 units, designed with a superior standard of interior finishes and five-star hotel-like amenities.

Recent numbers released by the Ottawa Real Estate Board show house prices in Westboro have skyrocketed by over fifty per cent, and bidding wars are breaking out across the city.

“Ottawa is on the cusp of a major transformation,” said Sam Mizrahi President of Mizrahi Developments. “Ottawa is also a very vibrant and stable city. It’s really the place to invest over the next five years in terms of getting really good returns with a much lower cost of entry. You are coming in at a price with very good metrics, with similar rents and revenue, compared to Toronto or any other international city.”

Additional transformation will come by way of the world’s largest retailer, Amazon, who just this week began work on a massive distribution centre set to bring 1,000 jobs to the city’s already healthy job market. Ottawa’s robust employment opportunities in Government, The City of Ottawa and the booming tech sector has attracted families moving from other urban centres. This spike in housing demand has created a ‘listings-starved market’ where statistics show an all-time low vacancy rate of below 2%. Figures from the Ottawa Real Estate Board show that inventories are selling as soon as they come on the market. On average, properties are moving as fast as 11 days, compared to last year and foreign buyers are taking heed.

Ottawa has replaced Toronto as the market with the highest foreign investors according to new RBC research. “Between November 2017 and February 2018, just 2.1 per cent of Toronto property transactions involved foreign buyers, compared to 2.5 per cent in Ottawa”, reads the report. This is largely due to the 15% Foreign Buyers Tax that hit Toronto and the Greater Golden Horseshoe area last year. This tax does not apply to Ottawa.

The nation’s dynamic capital is the best-kept secret no longer. A stable job market, reasonable cost per square foot to buy in proportion to income and growing infrastructure are trends continuing in 2018. The stars are aligning and it is the perfect time to invest in Ottawa.